Gio Gonzalez walked off the mound at Roger Dean Stadium today with a wide smile on his face, an odd look considering the carnage behind him. Gonzalez allowed the Cardinals eight earned runs in 3 2/3 innings on 10 hits and four walks, as unsightly a line score as the Grapefruit League will produce all spring. And yet there marched Gonzalez, smiling away.

"There's certain times when you have to hold your smile, hold your pride," Gonzalez said. "This situation, the way I looked at it, I'm glad that it happened now and not during the season. The reason why I was smiling was because there was a lot of things I picked up, back then, I never would have picked up. I would have never thought the way I'm thinking now."